Posted by Drew Schwartz on Fri, Jan 20, 2012 @ 06:45 AM
We sell remnants every day, but once a month we put them on sale for half the everyday price. We normally have our half-price remnant sale on the fourth Friday of the month. So we've got the remnant bins ready again, because Friday, January 27, 2012, from 8am to 5pm, is our next one-day, monthly Half-Price Remnants Sale. Hope you can join us!
Please join us at our one and only Louisville location as we Once Again offer You our Customers, an Opportunity to Obtain Enormous Value on Engineering, Machinable and See-Through Plastic Remnants of sheet, rod and tube..
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We will be open our normal hours of 8am to 5pm.
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No Minimum Purchase Amount is Required for this Sale.
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Fax and e-mail requests accepted. We can also ship your puchase.
Colorado Plastic Products is located at 500 S. Arthur Ave, Louisville, CO 80027 (see map below or click here to open it in a new window):
Our regular business hours are M-F, 8am -5pm.
Posted by Drew Schwartz on Wed, Oct 26, 2011 @ 06:07 PM
As a plastic distributor, I like to read books about the history of plastics. As a Colorado resident, and husband to a professional conservationist, I enjoy learning more about environmental issues. I got a chance to do both when I when I recently read the new book, Plastic; A Toxic Love Story by Susan Freinkel.
The author decided to spend a day without touching anything plastic. But she didn't make it too far. About 10 seconds, she estimates...since both the light switch and the toilet seat in the bathroom were made of plastic. So she changed the experiment into a list-making exercise and that day she wrote down 196 different plastic items that she touched. Of course, many of these items were non-durable items like plastic packaging. The next day she continued list-making with a similar tally of everything she touched that wasn't at least partially made of plastic. The non-plastic list only made it to 102 items.
This led to some reflection and a list of questions, which she attempts to answer in the book. Those questions include:
- What is plastic?
- Where does plastic come from?
- How did we get so many plastic items in our lives without really trying?
- What happens to plastics after we put them into a recycling bin?
- Does plastic actually get recycled after it's picked up curbside?
- How much of the plastic that the typical American discards is ending up in the ocean?
- Should we stop using plastic shopping bags?
- Is there a future for plastic in a sustainable world?
To explore the answers to these questions, the book is organized into separate chapters about eight common, everyday, relatively non-durable objects that are commonly made from plastic, including the comb, the stackable cafe chair, the Frisbee, the intravenous solution bag, the disposable lighter, the grocery bag, the soda pop bottle and the credit card.
Two of my favorite factoids in the book were:
- In the 19th century plastics were actively promoted as a way to replace ivory from elephant tusks for use in billard balls and to replace hair comb materials that were coming from hawksbill turtle shells.
- The rapid growth of plastics after World War II had a lot to do with their utility as a way to use the ever-increasing stream of petroleum refining by-products.
Overall it thought that the Pro's of this book were:
- It's a good historical overview of plastic
- The author acknowledges the paradoxes of the plastic industry
- There is a good chapter explaining what the recycling numbers on plastic products indicate and where they came from
- And there's an excellent notes section at the back of the book
And I thought the Con's of this book were:
- No durable plastic items were examined
- No full-scale solutions for the paradoxes of our huge reliance on non-durable plastic products were identified or examined
Posted by Drew Schwartz on Sun, Sep 26, 2010 @ 07:40 PM
Colorado Plastic Products was hired by the Early Television Museum of Hilliard, OH, to construct a clear plastic replica of the case for a Lucite TRK-12 television set; just like the one that was on display at the 1939 Worlds Fair. 
The Early Television Museum lent us an original wood case, the electronic guts from another TRK-12 and some photos of a another replica case to work from. Over many hours of fabrication, John Butler was able to create a museum grade case for exhibit in Australia. One inch thick clear acrylic sheet was bonded using IPS Weld-on adhesive compounds including Weld-on #3. And since the picture tube is mounted vertically in the RCA TRK-12 (which means the image is viewed on a mirror in the lid), a hinged clear acrylic lid needed to be part of the project. And since the outside of original wooden case was wrapped with eight ribs, the replica case needed to have the same number of clear plastic ribs heat bent to match the outside profile of the case.
The final version of the TRK-12, on display in its exhibit, looks like this:
Posted by Drew Schwartz on Tue, Sep 14, 2010 @ 09:36 PM
Colorado Plastic Products offers two kinds of recycled HDPE plastic.
The first type of recycled plastic is Utility Grade HDPE. It is only available in black, and is made of Post-Industrial recycled plastic. Utility grade HDPE is available in 4’x8’ sheets, in standard thicknesses from 1/8” to 1”. The surface of both sides of this recycled HDPE material is smooth. The minimum purchase quantity for this black utility grade HDPE is one 4’x8’ sheet.
The second type is of recycled HDPE that we offer is available in your choice of solid colors, and is made of Post-Consumer recycled material. It can be produced for you in standard 4’x8’ sheets, in standard thicknesses from 1/8” to 1.25””. Custom lenghts and widths are also available. The surface (of both sides of this recycled HDPE material) is available in your choice of four different textures. The available textures, in decreasing degree of granulation, are Orange Peel (as normally found on cutting board material), Cobblestone (as normally found on partition board), Desert Stone (as normally found on marine board) and Smooth. The minimum purchase quantity for this Post-Consumer grade material is 5,000 lbs, which corresponds to 64 ½”x4’x8’ sheets (or 256 1/8” sheets and so on).
A single sheet of ½”x48”x96 of (black) Utility Grade (Post-Industrial) HDPE sells for $118.
The per sheet price, for the minimum purchase amount of 64 ½”x48”x96” sheets, of any color of Post-Consumer recycled content HDPE is $145.
In comparison, a sheet of natural colored (white) HDPE made from virgin resin in the ½”x48”x96” size is $145 and the same size HDPE sheet in black, made with virgin resin, is $159.
Posted by Drew Schwartz on Wed, Sep 08, 2010 @ 09:44 PM
Drew and Anita Schwartz bought Colorado Plastic Products from the Ranson family five years ago this week. Since that time, Labor Day 2005, they have upgraded many technologies and processes.
Technological improvements include:
- A new phone system with voice mail
- New computers with email for all employees
- A constantly updated website with contact info for everyone in the organization
Process improvements in the five years since 2005 include:
- Computerized order writing, tracking and billing
- Email quoting and order confirmation
- CAD drawing capability
- Virtual inventory system
- Recycling of acrylic (Plexiglas), polycarbonate (Lexan) and ABS
- 24-hour, outside accessible Free Box for all the other plastics that we can't sell or recycle but refuse to put in the landfill
- Monthly half-price remant sale
The business has also been moved into a modern buiding at 500 S. Arthur Avenue, Louisville, CO 80027.
We're committed to continuously improving our technology and processes.
And we are grateful to all our of customers and vendors and friends and family for their unflagging support.
Posted by Drew Schwartz on Sat, Aug 21, 2010 @ 10:35 PM
At Colorado Plastic Products we use our overhead, 2.5 axis, CNC router for a variety of projects. This message is to tell you about our router and about some of those projects.
First, let’s break the name down of this tool down:
• A router (in the woodworking sense) is a cutting tool that hollows out an area in the face of a piece of wood or plastic (or metal or foam or fiberglass etc.).
• Our router is an overhead router, because the cutting tool hangs from an arm on a frame (known as the gantry) and enters and exits the plastic that we are cutting from above the sheet.
• Our router is referred to as a CNC router because the motors that change the cutting tools location in space are controlled by a computer. Devices such as these have come to be describes as Computer Numerically Controlled devices.
• The 2.5 axis part of the name means that our router can move extremely accurately in the x and y axis dimensions, but is partially limited in it’s ability to reach all z axis locations above the material table.
Since there is a computer controlling our router, we need to get the part dimensions into the computer as a drawing file. The three different ways for us to get these drawing files on board the router (in decreasing order of complexity and cost to the customer) are:
1. Trace an example of the part and save the coordinates
2. Create an original digital drawing from a hand sketch or paper blueprint and convert it to router machine language
3. Use a customer’s existing computer drawing and convert it
Then the operator makes sure that the proper direction, rate and order of of cuts is programmed into the instructions for cutting the part. The cutting itself is done by spinning router bits. These bits are similar to drill bits but come in a much wider variety of sizes and shapes. They are selected based on the desired direction of cut, depth of cut, hardness of the plastic and a number of other factors.
After the part is programmed into the router’s computer, the plastic is placed on the perforated machine table and clamped down manually, or held in place by a vacuum created by the attached pump. This vacuum pressure is sometimes maximized along strips or ridges under the part by use of rubber strips or a jig (or both).
Once the operator instructs the CNC router to begin cutting the part, the table and the arm holding the cutting tool move independently to cut the part as quickly and precisely as is safely possible.
Once the part is programmed into the router’s computer, the plastic is placed on the perforated machine table and clamped down manually, or held in place by a vacuum created by the attached pump. Here is a video showing how this coordinated movement looks when a piece of ABS plastic is cut on a CNC router:
At Colorado Plastic Products, we rout plastic of many types for a wide variety of industries. If you would like to learn more about our CNC overhead router capabilities, including lead times and pricing, please give us a call, or e-mail or fax us your drawing.
Posted by Drew Schwartz on Tue, Aug 17, 2010 @ 10:01 PM
Sheet grade polycarbonate (aka Lexan or Makrolon) and acrylic sheet (aka Plexiglas) are two of the most frequently used see-through plastics. The two are easy for some people to mix-up since because both polycarb and Plex begin with the letter P.
Each of the two have benefits and drawbacks. Acrylic is shinier and polycarb is stronger. Acrylic is less expensive but easier to crack. Polycarb is more impact resisant but easier to scratch. They are both stronger and lighter than untempered glass; acrylic is 4x to 8x stronger than glass, while polycarb is about 200x stronger.
A video produced by the motorcycle windshield company National Cycle illustrates some of these differences by showing the effect of various projectiles and weapons on both acrylic and polycarb windshields.
By the time you finish watching a faceless guy in the video hit the windshields with everything from a slingshot to a baseball bat (and a hammer, shotgun and semi-automatic pistol) you'll get the idea that polycarb bends (and scratches) but doesn't break; and that acrylic stays stiff and shiny but cracks and shatters under impact.
Another way to show the differences is to list some of the common uses for each of these two materials.
Common Uses for Acrylic Sheet:
- Fish tanks and aquariums
- Animal and reptile enclosures
- Retail product displays
- Storm window linings (interior layer)
- Hockey rink glass
Popular Uses for Polycarbonate (Lexan):
- Race car windows
- Transparent visors for hockey and football players
- Window well covers
- Re-usable drinking bottles
- Computers: Apple, Inc.’s MacBook, iMac, and Mac mini
- Machine guarding glass
- Laminated layers of polycarbonate can be engineered to stop various size bullets